


The Taste of Love is Sweet

by MayQueen517



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Banter, Communication, Figging, Gingering, Kink Negotiation, M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Safewords, Sensation Play, Unbeta'd, are discussed but not used, hands down one of the filthiest things I have ever written, so many feelings, yes the title is a Johnny Cash reference thank you for noticing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:14:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26350225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayQueen517/pseuds/MayQueen517
Summary: Who knew figging fic could be so sweet?  4000 words later, me. I know now.----He grabs the ginger and the peeler off of the counter, along with the paring knife that Nicky had left out.Joe sings along with the radio as he examines the ginger Nicky had picked earlier. The scent is sharp in the kitchen as he peels the tough outer skin off, slowly shaping it and smoothing it.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 26
Kudos: 162





	The Taste of Love is Sweet

**Author's Note:**

> AHAHAHA, HELLO, WELCOME TO FILTHY SMUT HOUR. This is possibly the filthiest thing I have ever written and I'm so proud of it.
> 
> For those of you unaware, figging (or gingering) is the practice of using ginger for sensation play - in this instance, insertion into the anus. In the end notes, I'll leave some links if you'd like to read some more about this and ways to do it safely, which I used very liberally here. 
> 
> Please note: the reason why I did not write them using lubricant is that due to the oils within the ginger root, it's often not needed and will often dull the sensation. (In fact, one of the articles I link at the bottom mentions that saliva is often the best for figging!) (*the more you know.gif*)
> 
> The title is from Johnny Cash's 'Ring of Fire' because I'm hilarious. 
> 
> Thank you to hauntedfalcon and aphroditestummyrolls for the cheerleading!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!!

Familiarity, Joe muses, comes in all forms.

For example, after nine hundred years together, he and Nicky can generally tell what sort of mood the other is in at a glance. So it makes sense that when they're shopping in the market, and he sees Nicky lingering over the spice stall that Joe feels want thrum through him like his own heartbeat.

"Tonight?" Joe asks mildly, looking down at the way Nicky inspects the ginger. Nicky's lip tugs in the corner.

"Perhaps," Nicky says, with a sniff, "I was thinking of cooking something Quynh taught me."

"Then you'd have bought lemongrass at the last stall, habibi," Joe says, tilting his head so that he can press a lingering kiss behind Nicky's ear. Nicky breathes in slowly and exhales the same way, like he's lining up a shot.

"Maybe I have lemongrass at the house already," Nicky says, arguing as he looks over the ginger on display. Joe hums into his ear, getting a gentle swat for his trouble. The shop-keeper grins at them, her wrinkled eyes brightening as she winks at Joe.

Joe grins, winking back, before kissing Nicky's cheek. Nicky absently tilts his head into it, meeting his eyes.

"I trust you, my love," Joe says, grinning as he sets his baseball cap on his head backwards. It makes Nicky roll his eyes but Joe knows, like he knows the way Nicky's breath hitches as he comes, that Nicky likes it.

"You had better," Nicky mutters good-naturedly, as Joe walks off, in search of a little gift for Nile. He doesn't know the perfect gifts for her yet, but he will. He browses jewelry and hair accessories, chatting to the vendors nearby as Nicky slips his hand into Joe's. Joe grins at him, blood already warming in anticipation of the night.

"What about those?" Nicky asks, pointing at the hair charms laid out on the table. Joe leans forward, peering at the wire and the hollow beads and grins.

"You," he says, kissing Nicky on the nose just so that his love will swat at him with a laugh, "are a genius."

Joe picks out a few of his favorites, grabbing ones that Nicky suggests before he pays for them. They're walking out of the market, hands brushing every so often when Nicky pulls him into the alleyway nearby.

Nicky kisses him, long and slow, warming Joe from his toes all the way to his heart. He stops thinking and his heart thuds in his chest the way it always does for Nicky. They kiss like that until Joe pulls away, breathing hard to watch Nicky's eyes soften. Nicky kisses his forehead and then his lips one last time before he speaks.

"I'll take care of dinner, if you take care of preparations," Nicky says. Nicky slides a hand under Joe's shirt, scratching against his stomach, "You don't come until I say it's okay. Agreed?"

"Or what?" Joe challenges, just to watch Nicky's eyes tighten. Joe licks his lips, a grin starting. It looks like all the times they fought before, before they knew one another. Before Joe knew how Nicky left his right side unguarded and exploited it over and over. It's like a cat and mouse game, the way they spent their fifteenth year of immortality, chasing one another around just to kill each other.

Of course, it only took a few months of _that_ before it turned into fucking each other.

"If you come before I say it's okay, you will not play tonight," Nicky says placidly, eyes bright. Joe likes to push him though, enjoying the way that Nicky pushes back.

"That's it? We don't-"

"I never said 'we'," Nicky says, tracing his fingernail around Joe's nipple. It drives Joe crazy, his whole body shuddering as he leans back into the wall.

"I will happily finger myself to completion while you watch. I'll wish it were your cock, of course," Nicky says thoughtfully, pinching Joe's nipple as Joe curses, arching into him.

"You are so cruel, habibi," Joe teases as Nicky winks at him, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Well, consider it incentive to behave," Nicky says breezily, slipping his hand out of Joe's shirt before he slips out of the alleyway. Joe groans to himself, laughing as he scrubs his hands over his face. He adjusts his half-hard cock, following Nicky out as he had once followed Nicky all over a continent.

They move around each other in the kitchen easily, an awareness built of hundreds of years together. Joe washes the pieces of ginger carefully, looking them over, aware of Nicky's eyes on him. He hums love songs under his breath, some almost forgotten and some still from the notebook that fills faster and faster these days. Joe settles on one larger one, wide and curved, looking over at Nicky.

Heat in Nicky's eyes make his heart thud painfully as Nicky's eyes linger on the ginger in his hands.

"You're sure?" Nicky asks, voice rough with his own desire as he hands over the peeler. This negotiation feels like a well-worn path because it is. Sometimes Joe wishes nothing more than to see Nicky spread out, fucked out until he cries.

And sometimes Nicky wants to see Joe squirming on a piece of root ginger, burning with desire and love until the only mirage he can believe is Nicky and his love.

Joe kisses Nicky softly, smiling into his lips, "You are so sweet with your concern."

Nicky hums into his mouth, crowding him back against the sink, grinding against him. Neither are fully hard yet, the sensation just a tease of the orgasm that will be long sought after by the end of the night. It's familiar, as familiar as the way Nicky wakes first and the way that once upon a time, in a desert not too far from this safe house, Nicky crowded into Joe for their first kiss.

They kiss leisurely, a lazy shadow of that first desperate crash of lips. Joe rocks their hips together, a promise for later as Nicky pulls back, his eyes dark and hazy with want.

"Make your preparations," Nicky says, threading his hand into Joe's pants, stroking him slowly to hardness. Joe gasps against him, head tilting back as Nicky leans close, speaking in a language that only Joe and he speak now, "You will wait for me."

Joe nods, gasping as Nicky draws away, a secretive smile playing around his lips as he placidly washes his hands, as if nothing had happened. Joe laughs, tossing his hat onto the nearby table, shaking his head.

Blood singing, Joe wanders to the bathroom, stripping down and tossing his clothes into the hamper, knowing to do otherwise would drive him and Nicky crazy. Joe makes quick work of his ablutions, listening to the radio drifting down from the kitchen. He cleans and cleans again before he sprays the tub down, whistling along to whatever song he thinks of.

Excitement settles under his skin, a buzz like just before a mission. Joe lets his hands drift over his torso, imagining they were Nicky's hands. He gives his cock a few lazy strokes, groaning as he rocks into them. Joe stops himself before he goes too far. Nicky, he has learned, does not make idle threats. Joe dries off quickly, tossing the towels in with the clothes as he hears Nicky absently singing along to the radio.

He pulls on loose sweatpants, padding out to the kitchen where the ginger and the peeler have been left. Nicky looks over his shoulder at him, a smile on the sweetest lips Joe has ever kissed. Joe walks over, pressing a chain of kisses across the line of Nicky's shoulders and the back of his neck.

Joe noses along, setting his mouth to just below Nicky's ear, tasting him and sucking a quickly fading mark there. Nicky huffs, leaning back into him.

"All done?"

"Almost," Joe mumbles as Nicky tangles his fingers into Joe's hair, holding tight. Joe breathes in sharply, crowding closer as Nicky turns, kissing him hard. Nicky takes his breath every single time just like it was the first time. Joe moans into his mouth, breathless with want and love as Nicky pulls away, eyes soft and full of love.

"Hurry up, then," Nicky says softly, trying to wink at him as he always does. Nicky generally can't wink, instead looking as if he's eyeing his scope and Joe loves him so much that he can't help but crowd closer, hugging him tight.

"You are the breath in my lungs and the love in my heart, Nicolo," Joe says as Nicky's breath hitches. His face softens and gentles and they kiss slowly before Nicky hums into his mouth.

"A thousand lifetimes with you are not enough, Yusuf," Nicky says. Joe grabs the plates, handing them off as Nicky transfers the food between them, leaving the rest in open containers and setting the pots to soak. Sometimes Joe can't reconcile the modernities that accompany them in this year but sometimes, with Nicky's soft eyes and sweet smile, he finds that it doesn't matter what changes around them. What matters is that Nicky's love is as unwavering as Joe's.

They eat easily, chatting softly and this is the part that Joe likes the most. The lead up to whatever scene they have planned. It is a fire simmering in his blood and Joe laughs to himself at the thought.

"Telling yourself jokes, hayati?" Nicky asks, smiling fondly as he tears some of the bread that they had baked together earlier in the day.

"Well, I thought to myself 'I want him like a fire in my blood'," Joe says. Nicky snorts rudely, a snicker that turns into a full laugh.

"That isn't the only place you will have a fire tonight, no?"

Joe laughs, shaking his head as they finish eating. He wipes his mouth, reaching for Nicky's hand to place a gentle kiss on his palm. Nicky hums softly, swiping a thumb along Joe's cheekbone, fingers curling under his ear.

"Any special requests for tonight?" Nicky asks, in the same considering way that he has for the last 800 years they've been partners. Joe bites at the fleshy heel of Nicky's palm, a gentle nip that he soothes with his tongue, just to hear Nicky hiss softly.

"Will you prep yourself as well?" Joe asks as Nicky laughs softly, tracing his thumb over Joe's lip.

"If that is what you want, of course, my heart," Nicky says.

Joe murmurs his love against Nicky's hand, standing with him to set the kitchen to rights quickly. Nicky kisses him softly, tasting of the spices from dinner and Joe hums, kissing him deeper as if he could climb inside Nicky.

"I left everything out," Joe says as Nicky laughs softly. He picks Joe's lips lightly, smiling.

"So thoughtful," Nicky simpers as Joe shakes his head.

"Hopeful, more like," Joe calls out after Nicky. He grabs the ginger and the peeler off of the counter, along with the paring knife that Nicky had left out.

Joe sings along with the radio as he examines the ginger Nicky had picked earlier. The scent is sharp in the kitchen as he peels the tough outer skin off, slowly shaping it and smoothing it. He considers it, turning it this way and that.

Already, the desire thrumming like nervous energy through him is building. Joe carves the flare with easy, practiced motions as he pares down the ginger, adding the chunks to the scraps already sitting on the table. He holds it, humming thoughtfully as he makes a few more slices, looking up when Nicky wanders back in.

"What do you think?" Joe asks, just to watch that slight flush creep over Nicky's cheeks. Nicky watches him, love and lust shining across his face in equal amounts.

"Let me see?" Nicky asks, walking over to examine it as Joe turns it. Nicky hums, taking the paring knife and smoothing out a few spots that Joe hadn't noticed. He does the same where the flare is, nodding in satisfaction. Joe looks at him, thinking and considering and while desire hums under his skin, the love he has for this man is far more overwhelming.

Nicky settles into his lap, watching Joe as he slides his thumb along the curve of the ginger and Joe fits his teeth onto the meat of Nicky's bare shoulder. He bites him gently as Nicky grinds down into Joe's cock.

"Hands and then bedroom?" Nicky asks conversationally. Joe can see the tent of his cock and knows that he's not as unaffected as he pretends to be. They wash their hands quickly, the plug of ginger going into a waiting bowl as Joe cleans the table of the scraps quickly.

Naked and on the bed, he watches Nicky and the way he folds their sweatpants away. Joe laughs, fondly as Nicky looks over at him, his eyebrow lifting. Nicky's lips twitch with the ghost of smile as he comes over, straddling Joe on the bed.

Joe groans at the sudden touch of skin against his own, a craving that has been there for hundreds of years blazing to life.

"What do you say if you want me to stop?" Nicky asks, looking down at him. The bowl is nearby, waiting and Joe squirms under the familiar weight of his love.

"Actual safewords tonight or just check-ins?" Joe responds. Nicky hums, tracing the pad of his index finger around Joe's nipples, a spark of sensation as he watches Nicky think.

"Check ins, I think," Nicky says, rocking his hips into Joe's. Joe gasps, spanning Nicky's hips with his hands, "I would feel better with a safeword in place though."

"Tulip," Joe says, watching Nicky laugh. Joe slides his hand along the line of Nicky's chest, thumbing his nipple. Nicky's aren't as sensitive as Joe's, but Joe still enjoys the way he can feel his ribs expand with the slow inhale. "Three knocks if my mouth is otherwise occupied."

Nicky groans at that, slipping off of Joe. Joe whines, just to watch the way Nicky rolls his eyes.

"Lube or no?"

"We tried that in '15, remember? Didn't like it as much. It's in the drawer though, if we need it," Joe says, scooting up as Nicky climbs back onto the bed. Joe fits a pillow under his hips, letting his legs fall open to expose himself to Nicky as he's done a million times before.

Nicky nips at the soft flesh of his thighs, making Joe jerk and gasp. Nicky spends longer than Joe would wish worrying at the soft skin there, sucking bruises that fade in the blink of an eye. Joe watches Nicky, cock hard and entire body waiting.

"What's the rule?" Nicky murmurs, looking up at Joe. His breath wafts over Joe's cock and Joe shudders from it. Nicky's eyes are soft but the pupils are blown from desire and Joe wants him to come closer so he can kiss him. Instead, he focuses on Nicky's question, goosebumps pulling at his skin where Nicky traces the crease of his thigh.

"I don't come until you say it's okay," Joe answers. Nicky hums softly, his lips just brushing the exposed head of Joe's cock. Joe holds himself still, watching him.

"Remember that," Nicky says, licking his lips. The lightest touch from Nicky's lips on his cock has him shivering even as he watches Nicky open wide, sinking that wet warmth onto him. Joe exhales on a groan, muscles in his thighs trembling. On edge after his shower, it takes everything in him to not thrust into Nicky's wonderful mouth.

Nicky pulls off with a hard suck just as he sinks the ginger into Joe's ass. Joe arches into it, away from it, groaning as his entire body shudders. He gulps for air, aware that Nicky is murmuring to him in French of all things.

"French?" he asks, breathlessly, squirming. The flare sits just right, the plug heavy and his stomach flips over and over, like the time they parajumped into Borneo in the early '90's. Joe lets urgent noises fall from his throat as he rocks back into it.

"It seemed fitting," Nicky says, unconcerned. He can hear the lack of breath though as Nicky watches him torn between fucking himself on the plug or fucking the air. Nicky presses a wet, hot kiss to each of his thighs, holding his hands up.

"Wash my hands or no?"

"Please?" Joe asks as Nicky smiles at him, pride and love shining over his face like the first time Nicky killed someone to save Joe. Joe's heart thuds painfully from all the weight of their years as Nicky hurries out. He hears him washing his hands as Joe teases himself, pinching his own nipples as he begins to burn.

"Hayati," Nicky says, coming back, "Check in?"

"Oh, my love, I am so good. Do you remember Algiers? In the 1600s?"

"Where we fucked on the beach?"

Joe groans, remembering the way the evening had stretched into the night, long hours spent with Nicky's cock inside of him and whispering their love to each other. He's struck speechless as Nicky's cold hands skim his thighs. Joe hisses, a shudder wracking him.

"I remember how overwhelmed you got," Nicky says. He uses the unpeeled base of the plug to wring a choked sound out of Joe. The burn renews, a slow warming of his entire body and Joe feels like time has stopped.

"This," Joe gasps, arching when Nicky uses his free hand to graze his fingertips along the length of Joe's cock. The movement drives the plug into him harder, the ginger's heat spreading from his ass up to his back. He's caught between sensations, shivering hard, clenching and unclenching on the length inside him.

"What about this?" Nicky asks, calmly and Joe laughs breathlessly.

"This might be better," Joe says finally, laughing as Nicky snorts rudely. Nicky leans over, leaving a trail of biting kisses along Joe's hips. Joe gasps on something that might be Nicky's name, moaning when Nicky shoulders his legs wider.

"My love, it doesn't involve sand, of course this is better," Nicky says drolly as Joe laughs. Nicky kisses him then, chasing the sound and Joe gasps into it. Nicky's kiss is like the swing of his blade through the air, it is a part of Joe that is as intrinsic as knowing how to breathe.

"Check in," Nicky murmurs as Joe gulps air. "Need a moment?"

Joe moans, screwing his eyes shut as Nicky combs through his hair, gentle and easy. "Yusuf," Nicky says sternly. Joe's eyes open and he meets Nicky's.

"Do you need a moment?"

"Yes, please, habibi," Joe says finally, a trembling, giddy feeling working through his limbs, leaving him shaken. Nicky kisses him gently, a press of the lips that allows Joe to sink into the bed, kissing back slowly.

"Do you want the plug out?" Nicky asks as Joe nods, murmuring his assent as Nicky gently eases the plug of ginger out of his body. The burn will fade as his body heals, but for now the warmth lets him scoot closer to Nicky, kissing him gently.

They kiss like that, lazy moments that allow Joe's heart to slow, his breathing to return to something more than gasps. The burn from the plug is banked now, embers that spark every single time he clenches. Joe lets Nicky hold him, overwhelming pleasure stealing his breath for a moment longer as Nicky murmurs to him in ancient languages.

Laying there, sharing breath, Joe traces the lines of Nicky's face, watching Nicky's eyes brighten and when he kisses him, he can taste Nicky's smile.

"Check in," Joe murmurs, following Nicky's breathing. Nicky sighs softly, sliding his hand up and down the line of Joe's thigh and side.

"I'm good. I think we both got overwhelmed, yes?" Nicky asks. Joe kisses Nicky, a fresh shiver working through them both. Joe lays back, relaxing into the bedding and the pillows, nodding slowly.

"It was a bit too much all at once, yeah," Joe says, settled in his skin. Nicky slips down, the slight rasp of his stubble pricking into Joe's pecs. Nicky's mouth, hot and warm, closes over Joe's nipple, bringing a whine into the quiet of the room. This build to orgasm is gentler, the heat in his ass creeping over the rest of him as his cock leaks against his stomach.

Nicky grazes his teeth against Joe's nipple, the pressure at the base of his spine coiling as Joe sobs on a moan.

"My mouth or my hand?" Nicky asks, looking up at him. Joe shudders hard, shifting for purchase as he hauls Nicky up to him, kissing him hard as an answer. Nicky reaches down, striping his cock with quick, short strokes as they kiss.

Nicky pulls back only far enough to speak, lips brushing Joe's as he speaks, "You can come whenever you want, my love. You have done so well. Let me hear you, Yusuf."

Joe sobs, his entire body arching from the bed as he comes hard, burning and coming until he feels entirely hollowed out. He feels the cooling streaks of come on his chest and even a bit on his neck as he shudders in Nicky's arms. Joe hangs onto Nicky, gasping for air for comfort and for everything.

Tears leak out of his eyes and dry on his face before he comes back to himself. Joe lays on the bed, drowsy and settled as Nicky comes back in, a warm rag to wipe Joe's chest and neck. Nicky cleans his thighs and gently cleans him of any ginger residue. As always, when they do this, Joe feels fragile and he lets Nicky pull him close, burying his face into his love's neck, kissing the pulse point.

"Check in," Nicky asks, kissing his forehead and his lips. Joe hums into his lips, smiling into the gentle, warm kisses.

"I'm perfect. What about you?"

"You don't usually cry when we do this. Are you sure you're okay?" Nicky asks as Joe leans back, grazing his fingers along the broad lines of Nicky's shoulders.

"I am very sure. It's been a long time since we could lay the other out like this. Before Nile, even," Joe says, thinking back to the months prior. He knows that Nicky is thinking of the small home in Vũng Tàu that they had made theirs for a few months. Vietnam always reminds them both of Quynh, of her love for her home and Vũng Tàu is not the city she was from, but something about the city still feels like her. Joe remembers the beach and the night they had left, wishing the ache in his thighs could have stayed as a physical reminder of the way Nicky loves him.

"What can I do for you?" Joe asks, skimming his hand down to curl around Nicky's cock. At his touch, Joe feels him firm back to full hardness, Nicky's gasp as familiar as his snores. Nicky laughs softly, kissing him gently.

"Like this?" Nicky asks, thrusting his cock into Joe's hand, as though Joe wouldn't give him the world. Joe kisses him slowly and gently, stroking the way that he learned Nicky loved all those years ago. He twists his hand at the head, reveling in Nicky's throaty moan.

Joe curls his tongue around Nicky's earlobe, sucking gently as he pulls away to whisper all the ways he wants to have Nicky before they meet up with the team. His whispered words have Nicky gasping and pleading, half in English, half in the languages they first used with one another.

Nicky arches into him and sobs on Joe's name, coming hard. Joe milks him through it until Nicky whines, curling into him.

They lay there for a moment, Joe drowsing in and out as Nicky's come cools on their skin.

He knows they will have to get up soon, both to shower and do laundry but to also collect themselves. Joe wraps his arms around Nicky, holding him close, chest to chest as they trade soft kisses.

Feeling Nicky relax into sleep, Joe presses his nose to Nicky's hair, closing his eyes, unwilling to wake Nicky.

Everything else can wait, so long as he can hold Nicky close.

**Author's Note:**

> Figging/gingering is to be done with caution, of course. If you're going to play, PLEASE play safely! I recommend these links that I used for research:  
> [Figging Kink by Mr. Racy](https://mrracy.com/figging-kink/)  
> [Tips on Figging by PlugLust.com](https://pluglust.com/blogs/news/figging-fun)  
> ====  
> Translations (as ever, if you see any errors, please KINDLY let me know!):  
> Hayati: My Life  
> Habibi: My Love
> 
> As you could tell, I am ALWAYS taking prompts over on Tumblr, at [CactusDragon517](https://cactusdragon517.tumblr.com/)! Come chat with me!
> 
> Give the link to [this fic](https://cactusdragon517.tumblr.com/post/628650554226360320/the-taste-of-love-is-sweet-mayqueen517-the-old) a reblog!


End file.
